Child Guardian Spirits (Gohō Dōji) in the
Medieval Japanese Imaginaire
Irene H. Lin1
Christchurch, New Zealand
THE RISE OF THE CULT OF gohō dōji, guardian or servant spirits in the
form of boys, was a particular medieval Japanese phenomenon vividly captured in both narrative accounts and visual representations.2 In illustrated
scrolls (emaki) of this period, we often see strange-looking boys attacking
malevolent spirits, acting as mediums in possession and exorcism rites,
or appearing as attendants and saviors of monks or other practitioners of
Buddhism. Frequently they served as attendant spirits of esoteric deities,
such as Acalanātha (Fudō Myōō), Sarasvatī (Benzaiten), and Vaiśravaṇa
(Bishamonten). More generally, these child guardian spirits were personally attached to priests and hermits who had acquired power and holiness
through their practice of austerities.
Rather than uncovering the origin or development of the cult of itself,
this paper will examine the discourse and the symbol of gohō dōji.3 The
discourse on gohō dōji extended beyond esoteric Buddhist texts to the larger
Buddhist literature, such as Dainihonkoku hokekyōgenki, Kokonchomonjū, and
Konjaku monogatarishū, and further on to the broader Japanese literature,
such as Genji monogatari, Heike monogatari, and Uji shūi monogatari. Moreover,
gohō dōji became a symbol that permeated other religious traditions beyond
the Tendai and Shingon circles, unifying or organizing the magical beliefs
of the medieval Japanese regarding guardian deities or servant spirits. For
example, in Onmyōdō (“the way of yin and yang,” that is, Daoism), servant
spirits such as shiki gami (ritual deities) or shiki ōji (ritual princes) came to be
identified with gohō dōji during the medieval period. In Shugendō, we also
find guardian dōji, or ōji, attending to the needs of shugenja, or yamabushi
(practitioners of Shugendō), and protecting them. Similarly in folk religion,
the guardian deity of the household was a child, the zashiki warashi (parlor
child), who could bring fortune or misfortune to the house in which he or
she resided.
Before turning to such discourse, I want to briefly examine how the
symbol of gohō dōji was created in the medieval Japanese imaginaire. It is a
double symbol that drew both from the symbol of the Buddhist protective
or guardian deities (gohō) and also from the symbol of the child (dōji)—as
represented by the class of child deities in Japanese religion and as illustrated
by the status of the child in medieval Japanese society at large.
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GUARDIAN DEITIES
Gohō dōji belonged to the larger family of guardian deities (gohō zenshin).
These deities were turbulent or fierce deities, who were often local deities
or demonic beings such as yakṣa-s, rākṣasa-s, or nāga-s, and were initially
opposed to Buddhism but after their conversion became protectors of the
dharma. Such deities or beings possessed the ambivalent character of Śaiva
and Buddhist tantric deities: the more terrible and dangerous they were,
the more powerful were the protection and benefits given to their worshippers. It was the dangerous power of these local deities that was harnessed
to protect against and to destroy obstacles, both inner and outer. In addition
to protecting the buddhadharma against its enemies and delivering punishments, they also rewarded believers and provided worldly benefits (genze
riyaku), often becoming deities of happiness and prosperity (fukujin).
In general, the iconography of these guardian deities depicted the characteristic quality of the group, which was fierce, grotesque, and wrathful.
Gohō dōji often appeared as strange-looking boys, otherworldly, and even
as demonic spirits, as will be discussed later. They were characterized by
ambivalent sacredness, possessing both positivity and negativity; whereas
they were dangerous and extremely violent in punishing transgressors of
the dharma, they were very loyal and zealous in serving followers of the
dharma, attending to their every need, however minute.
SYMBOL OF THE CHILD
In medieval Japan, it was said that until the age of seven, one did not
fully belong to the world of humans. It was not until boys reached fifteen
and girls thirteen years of age that they became adults, after going through
rites of passage. Thus up to that time they did not yet belong to the human
world, but rather were believed to be close to the gods and the demons. In
fact, the original meaning the Chinese character dō (Ch. tong) of dōji was
“slave,” which was tattooed on the forehead of one who was not a complete
person or one who had not been initiated. The character signified those who
did not belong to the human order, in other words those who were in the
world, but not of it. Therefore such an existence made them effective intermediaries and messengers between the visible and the invisible worlds.4
Since they had no social status and were not attached to land, children
were given freedom of movement. Their mobility and fluidity are attributed,
first, to their lack of any social or religious ties, or what Amino Yoshihiko
referred to as muen (estrangement, lack of ties to secular society), and second, to a sense of “immediacy” since they could be present at a moment’s
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notice.5 Since children were not of the world or of society, they were placed
or displaced into the margins or boundaries of the Buddhist and social
world. This capacity for traversing borders as boundary beings led to a
number of protective threshold deities manifesting in the form of children
in Japanese religion. For example, the protective deities of the house or the
boundary that manifested in the form of a child included the zashiki warashi
(the child of the parlor, who is about five or six years old), the kamadogami
(hearth god, who is said to be an ugly child from the Dragon Palace), and
dōsojin (god of crossroads, who takes the form of a child at times).6
However, the freedom and mobility of children were balanced or offset by their dependency. Accordingly, child gods were often lesser gods
under the control of a master god, or servants or followers of older gods,
or attendants to eminent monks.7 Tanaka Takako is of the opinion that the
origin of gohō, referring to child kami, belonged in a system of gods based
on family relations, that is, kenzokujin (family/dependent deities).8 Furthermore, Tanaka states that these child kami served their parents, performed
odd jobs, and were the intermediaries between gods and human beings.9
Gohō dōji, as protectors of the dharma, belonged to the extended family
of buddhas, kami, monks, practitioners of Buddhist rites, and servants of
Buddhist halls, and were on call for all kinds of service. It was owing to
their status as children that they could be summoned by “parent deities,”
monks, and practitioners in general. Their position was in sharp contrast to
other guardians of the dharma, such as the arhats (disciples of the Buddha
Śākyamuni who attained awakening).10 These arhats also served as guides
or protectors of practitioners of Buddhism, but they appeared at will, and
were not to be summoned like servants, as in the case of the gohō dōji.
Thus, the form that this particular class of guardian spirits adopted, that
of children, or more specifically that of boys, illustrated their dependent,
servile, and marginal status in the Buddhist family. Such views of children
reflected the attitude toward children in medieval Japanese society at large.
Servant spirits taking the form of children were something to which people
could easily relate. Their immediacy, accessibility, and willingness to serve
made them ideal servants.
During the medieval period, the symbol of the child, or divine child,
was particularly important. Many buddhas and bodhisattvas manifested
in child form during this time, when belief in the final age of the dharma
(mappō) was popular. Buddhas and bodhisattvas were supposed to manifest
in the form most appropriate to save sentient beings. For example, Kannon (Avalokiteśvara) and Monju (Mañjuśrī) both appeared as children or
youths and in such form became very popular among outcasts, women,
prostitutes, and homosexuals. This phenomenon was also in line with the
Buddhist notion of upāya, or skillful means (hōben), which allowed the use
of any means necessary or appropriate to help sentient beings obtain en-
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lightenment. Kami (native deities) also appeared in child form, especially
those that became protective deities in the Buddhist pantheon, such as
the thunder deity, illustrating the relationship between buddhas and kami
as that of parent and child.11 Under the combinatory paradigm of honji
suijaku (original forms of deities and their local traces), kami came to be
seen as the local traces (suijaku) of the original forms (honji), that is, the
Buddhist divinities.12
Furthermore, during this period the emperor (tennō) was often a child,
and he represented a very powerful symbol to rally under, even though in
reality his powers were marginal.13 Thus, the symbol of the child came to
represent both sacredness and marginality at the same time. The ambiguity
of the symbol dissolved the duality and polarization of purity and pollution, sacred and profane, this-worldliness and other-worldliness, obedience and transgression, freedom and dependency, and peacefulness and
turbulence. These distinctions were not absolute for the child, but rather
represented a continuum of potentialities to be activated or possibilities
to be manipulated by external principals, as in the case of gohō dōji. The
ambiguous potentials of these children were put to use by their principals,
namely the master deities upon whom they depended, and the religious
specialists who they served.
GOHŌ DŌJI AS ATTENDANTS
In the Keiranshūyōshū (A Collection of Leaves Gathered on Stormy Streams),
a collection of doctrinal essays and oral transmissions dated to 1348, the
chapter on Gohō no koto (Matters Regarding Gohō) contains several accounts
of how dharma protectors took the form of gohō dōji in serving eminent
monks and saints.14 One of them relates the origin of Otogohō (“youngest
protector of the dharma”), the youngest son of an Indian king, who came
to Japan and became a gohō.
The Seburiyama engi gives: Now in India, southern India, there was a
king named Tokuzen Daiō who had fourteen sons. Seven days after
birth, the fifteenth was lost. The king asked Nāgārjuna to use his
heavenly eye to locate his beloved lost son, who was subsequently
found at Seburiyama in Kyūshū, Japan. Overjoyed, the king, leading
the fourteen princes along with Nāgārjuna, went to Seburiyama.
The king became Sarasvatī (Benzaiten), one of the Sixteen Benevolent Deities (zenshin) and Sixteen Great Bodhisattvas. The fifteen
princes are his acolytes (dōji). The youngest prince is the Sensha
Dōji and is also known as Otogohō. He is also one of Fudō’s gohō
dōji, Seitaka Dōji…. Among the five hundred eighty thousand dōji
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of Saishō-o kyō, the fifteenth dōji, Sensha Dōji, is the foremost and
is also known as Kisho Myōzō Dōji.15
This gohō dōji was known by different names according to the deities or saints
he served. Otogohō, by virtue of his power, was able to protect saints even
when he was not physically present, as illustrated by the following story.
When Monk Sōō crossed the bridge at Katsugawa, his rosary fell
into the river and was swept away by the current. He threw his
single-pronged vajra into the water, and ordered it to take the rosary
back. The vajra caught up with it, and even though it was against the
current, the vajra drove the rosary in front, just like a snake pursuing a frog. When they came close to the bridge, the vajra hung the
rosary on itself, and presented it to the monk. It was an unparalleled
wonderous deed. This was also the doing of Otogohō.16
Thus Otogohō could activate his protective power even from afar, by
influencing the vajra to go after the rosary and also floating the rosary
against the current towards the bridge. However, it was not clear whether
his spirit possessed the vajra, which then was empowered and saved the
rosary. Otogohō was said to have served monks such as Shōkū Shōnin of
Shoshazan and Tani no Ajari Kōkei.
In their role as attendants to monks, gohō dōji also provided more mundane services such as bringing flowers, fruits, and water; lighting incense;
and even drawing baths. For example, the monk Butsuren, a reciter of the
Lotus Sutra, liked to take a hot bath three times a day. Two beautiful boys
appeared and offered to serve him, gathering firewood and heating the water
for his baths, bringing him fruits as well. These boys were thought of as
gohō dōji, whom Butsuren recognized as belonging to two of the converted
demons in the Lotus Sutra; they vanished forty-nine days after the death of
the monk.17
Aside from menial duties related to the daily needs and comfort of
monks, gohō dōji also removed obstacles to their practice. For instance, in
the Kokonchomonjū, two gohō dōji saved the priest Yuirembō from the interference of a tengu (goblin).18 The priest was kept from his copying of the
Lotus Sutra through the tengu’s constant hindrance, and was finally carried
off into the mountains by the tengu. A gohō doji saved the priest and then
reduced the tengu to the size of a rat to prevent further trouble.
Gohō dōji also monitored the practice of priests, keeping them from excessive austerities. In the Heike monogatari, Priest Mongaku practiced painful
austerities, for example, letting poisonous insects bite him and standing under
the Nachi waterfalls in the thick of winter.19 Once he submerged himself to
the neck under the water for several days. When he was swept away in the
current, a handsome youth appeared and pulled him ashore. Not discour-
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aged by this setback, Mongaku went back under the waterfall and on the
second day, eight youths came to pull him out again, during his recitation
of the three hundred thousand Fudō invocations. Despite their efforts, he
fought them off and continued his practice. Nevertheless, when he stopped
breathing on the third day, two divine youths descended from the summit
of the waterfall and revived him by rubbing him down with their fragrant
hands, from head to toe. These two boys identified themselves as Kongara
and Seitaka, the two main attendant dōji attached to Fudō.20 Another case
illustrating the guardian role of the gohō dōji was that of Eikō Risshi. In an
excess of religious zeal, Eikō Risshi climbed up a cinnamon tree and cast
himself down into the valley. He was saved by a gohō dōji, who spread out
his sleeves and caught him.21
Moreover, gohō dōji would manifest in dreams to deliver the prediction
of the practitioner’s attainment of buddhahood and to show the correct path
when one is lost. In the Dainihonkoku hokekyōgenki (Miraculous Tales of the
Lotus Sutra from Ancient Japan), we see the following story. The Tendai Priest
Chōen of Tsukushi Province had recited the Lotus Sutra and worshipped
Fudō Myōō since his youth. After many years of ascetic practice, he acquired
miraculous powers. One day after fasting for twenty-seven days and reciting
the Lotus Sutra, he dreamt that the Eight Great Attendants of Fudō Myōō, all
equipped with weapons, including swords and iron vajra-s, listened to his
recitation and said admiringly, “The ascetics who served the Buddha were
the same as the Buddha and would attain the supreme enlightenment just
as other bodhisattvas!”22 On another occasion when he lost his way trying
to cross Mount Ōmine, he recited the Lotus Sutra fervently and a boy appeared in his dream showing him the right way. 23
Gohō were also used in monks’ contests of magical powers. For instance, a
genkurabe or contest in magical powers took place between Jōzō Hōshi, whose
gohō brought him flowers and water as described in the Kokonchomonjū, and
the gohō of another powerful ascetic called Shun’yū. They sent the gohō into
a white stone. Jōzō commanded the stone to move, whereupon it began
to jump up and down like a football. Shun’yū then commanded the stone
to be still, whereupon it at once lay quiet. Next, Jōzō recited a passage
from the Nirvana Sutra in a voice that echoed among the clouds, and the
white stone leapt up and split in half. The two contestants finally got up,
bowed to each other, and departed. This type of match attested to the advancement of a monk in his practice. Gohō dōji act as a kind of barometer
to gauge the practitioner’s progress. The more advanced a monk was in
his spiritual power, the more powerful his gohō would be. Also, the tale
showed that the power of the priests was not exercised directly over the
stone, but over the gohō who acted as an intermediary, through whom the
stone was made to move.24
Even though the gohō dōji were protectors of the dharma, sometimes
they would go against the spirit of the dharma in obedience to their master.
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We see a description of such behavior in the Uji shūi monogatari.25 The yamabushi Keitōbō was furious that the ferryman ignored his request to board
a boat, despite the fact that he had not offered to pay the fee for crossing
over. He commanded his gohō to turn the boat back. But when there was no
response, he threatened to cut himself from the Buddha’s three treasures.
Thereupon, the boat turned around and headed for the shore. However,
this did not assuage his anger and he next ordered the gohō to sink the boat.
He was finally satisfied when the boat capsized and everyone on board was
thrown into the water.26
Gohō dōji could also be excessively violent in carrying out their duties.
In the following excerpt from Konjaku monogatarishū, we see this in an account of the gohō dōji of Shōkū of Shoshazan:
Shōkū was a reciter of the Lotus Sutra. He isolated himself in Kirishima
and recited the Lotus Sutra, day and night. Subsequently he moved
to the mountains and continued to recite the Lotus Sutra. Children
about ten years of age sat down with him and read with him….
Later, a youth of about seventeen or eighteen years of age with red
hair appeared announcing that he would serve Shōkū. Even though
the youth was short, he was very strong. He cut wood for Shōkū.
Other disciples did not regard this youth as a great treasure, and
said to Shōkū, “This child’s gaze is frightful and we don’t like him.”
Much later, a youth bigger than the first youth appeared. Over a
little matter, the smaller youth got mad and hit the bigger youth on
the head. With one punch, he killed him. They poured water on the
youth, but failed to revive him. Shōkū told the small youth that he
was useless and decided to send him away. The child started to cry,
and said that if he were to leave, he would be greatly punished. Yet
Shōkū drove him out. The youth cried and repeated that he must
serve the saint, otherwise he would be punished by his master. And
again he refused to depart. His disciples asked Shōkū what kind of
being this youth was. Shōkū said that he had prayed to Bishmonten
for someone to serve him and the youth was sent.27
From this story we discover that the gohō dōji had red hair and had great
strength. This gohō dōji belonged to Bishamonten’s family and was a
converted yakṣa, thus he was a yakṣa dōji. Bishamonten was served by a
number of these yakṣa dōji. Owing to the fact that they were converted
demonic spirits, they could forget the rules and fail to exercise moderation
at times, ending up inflicting cruelty and violence when they used their
strength during the performance of their assigned duties. Even though
they were commanded by kami, buddhas, and monks, and served them,
they could kill other beings over a mistake, or in anger. Gohō were powerful,
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dangerous, and turbulent spirits, whose negligence or zeal was sometimes
out of control in the fulfillment of an order.
GOHŌ DŌJI AS MEDIUMS IN EXORCISM
In another capacity gohō dōji became mediums for exorcism conducted
by priests or other religious specialists, in addition to driving out evil spirits themselves. This development was in line with the general use of child
mediums in exorcism.28 During the medieval period there was a popular
notion that illness was caused by evil spirits (mononoke), which would have
to be exorcised by healing rituals.29 Sometimes instead of the gohō dōji directly driving out an evil spirit from the possessed, a medium (yorimashi),
usually a child or woman, would be used as an intermediary to entice the
mononoke to leave the body of the sick and enter the body of the yorimashi
instead. Thereafter, the mononoke would be ousted from the body of the
yorimashi by the gohō dōji.
In the Uji shūi monogatari, we see two accounts of gohō dōji driving out
evil spirits. In one, the Lord Uji (Fujiwara Yorimichi, 992–1074) became
ill after falling off a horse, and the high priest Shin’yo was summoned to
perform an exorcism. Before the priest arrived, a spirit that possessed one
of the ladies-in-waiting revealed that he was responsible for the Lord Uji’s
illness, and was subsequently driven out by a gohō dōji who came ahead
of the priest.30 Here we can again see that the gohō dōji could be invoked to
carry out a monk’s orders from a distance.
Similarly, a gohō dōji was also mentioned in a story about the curing
of the illness of the prime minister from Horikawa (Fujiwara Mototsune,
836–892), also in the Uji shūi Monogatari.
He (the prime minister) said, “While I was asleep, I was just dreaming
that fearsome demons were inflicting all manner of tortures on me
when a boy with his hair done in a bun on each side and carrying a
wand came in the direction of the inner gate and drove the demons
off with the wand, till they scattered and ran away. When I asked
him who he was, he said, ‘A certain priest of the Gokuraku-ji, grieving over your illness, has been beside the inner gate ever since this
morning, praying for you by zealously reciting the Ninnō Sutra, the
scripture he has recited for many years. As a tutelary spirit watching
over him, I have driven off these evil demons which were afflicting
you.’ At that point I woke up, and afterwards felt quite well, just as
if I had been wiped clean of an illness.”31
From the story, it was clear that it was not the sound of the sutra being
chanted nor other incantations that acted directly upon the mononoke, but
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that such sounds acted as catalysts to activate the gohō to “possess” the
sick person, thus driving out the mononoke. Exorcism by gohō dōji could
be accomplished either by direct possession, or by this kind of double
possession. Gohō appeared in dreams to those who were ill, as in Uji shūi
monogatari, and then manifested again in dreams to confirm that the person
had been cured.32
From the end of the Heian period into the medieval period, shiki gami
came to be identified with gohō. This development is illustrated in the Naki
Fudō emaki, which tells the story of Chikō, the high priest of Miidera.33
Shōkū volunteered to be the yorimashi in order to cure his teacher, Chikō,
of illness. In the rite of exorcism performed by the onmyōji Abe no Seimei,
he used two gohō, who were depicted as two oni (demons), instead of shiki
gami to drive out the mononoke, or yakubyō gami (epidemic deities), that
were causing Chikō’s illness. Gohō were igyō spirits (strange spirits), and in
this case demonic spirits. Here one gohō had a long nose and looked more
like a human, the other gohō had a short nose, more similar to a monkey.
They both had the image of warriors with knives fastened to their waists
and sticks in their hands.
Finally, one can say that the most memorable image of gōhō dōji is the
sword-gohō (Tsurugi no Gohō or Ken no Gohō) in the illustrated scroll,
Shigisan Engi.34 This engi or foundation legend described miraculous
tales about Myōren, a high priest who devoted his life to the worship of
Bishamonten in seclusion at Shigisan in Yamato Province. Scroll one was
that of “The Flying Granary” and it told how Myōren sent his bowl flying
to obtain alms instead of leaving the mountain itself.35 In the second scroll,
Myōren was summoned to perform a rite of exorcism for the Emperor
Daigo. Prior to this, many prayers and rites were performed to cure of
the emperor’s illness, but he did not recover. Thus, on someone’s advice,
the Imperial Court requested Myōren to travel to the palace to perform
an exorcism. Despite the imperial summons to go to the capital, Myōren
did not go to the palace, but instead performed the rite at Shigisan. He
was asked how the emperor would know whether the rite was effective.
Myōren replied that at the end of the rite, he would send his servant spirit,
a sword-gohō, who would appear in the emperor’s dream as evidence of
the efficacy of the rite. The sword-gohō did appear in the Tenno’s dream
with a dharmacakra preceding him or ridden by him, and he carried a
sword in his right hand and ropes in his left. He wore a collar from which
hung numerous swords.36
GOHŌ DŌJI AND SHIKI GAMI
Onmyōji were active not only in performing rites of exorcism like Buddhist priests, but also in performing divination and prayer rituals for the
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aristocrats. Onmyōji activated servant spirits, which could take the form
of children or animals. In Onmyōdō, illness was believed to result from a
curse of an enemy or from an angry spirit. On the one hand, the gohō or shiki
gami prevented the interference of evil spirits in the practitioners’ worship
of deities and drove away spirits possessing the sick. They would “return
the spirits” who were possessing the ill person, in other words, send the
spirits back to the person who originally had put a curse on the ill person.
Thereby, in returning a curse, these shiki gami took revenge on the original
wrongdoer, punishing him or her.37 On the other hand, shiki gami could in
turn deliver a curse, making the accursed ill, or even causing death.
In the Uji shūi monogatari, we see how gohō were attached like shadows
to their masters. There is a story about an old priest who was accompanied
by his gohō, two lads of about ten years old, on a trip in an attempt to test
Abe no Seimei’s skills. Seimei saw through this right away and made the
old priest’s gohō disappear. The old priest, then realizing that Seimei had
tremendous power, said, “It is easy to make use of gohō, but to make the
gohō that someone else is using disappear is a feat that is beyond me. From
now on I wish to be your pupil.”38 Thereupon Seimei returned the two lads
to the old priest.
We can observe how fierce shiki gami can be when they are delivering
a curse. The following tale relates how Abe no Seimei used his magic
powers to protect an archivist minor captain, who had been cursed by a
jealous brother-in-law. The shiki gami, who was delivering the curse to kill
the captain, could not harm him owing to Seimei’s protection. In turn, the
onmyōji who had been employed to put the curse and had sent a shiki gami
to deliver the curse was struck dead when his curse was sent back to him
by Abe no Seimei.
Seimei was once seated in his official place at the Palace, watching
the high court nobles arrive with their fine array of outriders,
when he saw an elegant and very handsome young archivist minor
captain alight from his carriage and enter the palace. Just at that
moment, Seimei saw a crow fly over the officer’s head and drop
its dung on him. Seimei took a careful look at it and thought to
himself, “What a shame that such a handsome and very popular
young man should have been attacked by an evil spirit! This crow
is clearly some diviner’s familiar [gohō or shiki gami].” Evidently it
was not the officer’s destiny to die yet, for Seimei felt so sorry for
him that he went over and asked him, “Are you having an audience
of His Majesty? Forgive me if I seem a little presumptuous, but
why have you come to the palace? I have seen signs that you will
not live through the night. Fate willed that it should be revealed
to me. Please come with me and let me see what I can do.”… With
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the minor captain clasped tightly in his arms, Seimei cast spells
to protect him, and all night long, without a moment’s sleep, he
never once stopped reciting incomprehensible incantations and
prayers.
It was a long autumn night, but he concentrated his efforts, and
towards dawn there came a knocking at the door. At Seimei’s suggestion, someone was sent out to see what it was, and it turned out
to be the familiar who had been brought down on the minor captain
by his brother-in-law, who had held the archivist’s Fifth Rank. They
lived in different parts of the same house, and the minor captain’s
brother-in-law was jealous because their father-in-law had a poor
opinion of him, while he was very pleased with the minor captain
as a son-in-law and made a great fuss of him. The brother-in-law
was so jealous, in fact, that he had engaged a diviner to bring this
spirit familiar down onto his rival. The minor captain had thus been
close to death when Seimei had observed him, and after Seimei’s
night-long praying, a messenger had come from the diviner, who
had brought down the evil spirit and announced in a loud voice,
“Foolishly, and without reason save that I had been commanded
to do so, I brought down an evil sprit on you, but you had such
strong protection that it has turned back on me and I have now
been struck dead, as a result of the awful thing that I did.” “Do
you hear that, sir?” said Seimei, “If I had not discovered this last
night, that is what would have happened to you.” The messenger
was sent back in the company of a servant, who on inquiry was
told that the diviner’s death had been instantaneous. The son-inlaw who had engaged the diviner to bring down the evil spirit was
immediately sent packing by his father-in-law, who was overcome
with tears as he thanked Seimei, and was scarcely able to reward
him handsomely enough to express his gratitude.39
SHUGENDŌ AND GOHŌ DŌJI
Gohō dōji played similar roles in Shugendō as in Buddhism and
Onmyōdō. These roles included guiding, attending, and protecting the
practitioner (shugenja) into the mountain, and also of serving the shugenja
in obtaining oracles and in rites of possession and exorcism.40 The shugenja
often carried small images of a dōji or ōji as their guardian deities in their
ascetic practices in the mountains, and sometimes they enshrined these
images at the roadsides.41 According to the Diary of Visiting Kumano ascribed
to En no Ozunu (En no Gyōja no Kumano sankei no nikki), places where dōji
or ōji were enshrined were believed to be defiled or haunted by evil deities,
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and thus purification ceremonies or rituals for the enshrined deities were
performed there.42 For example, in the medieval period pilgrimage to
one of the sacred sites, Kumano, started with a visit to the Fushimi Inari
Shrine, where each pilgrim was given a gohō to accompany and protect
him or her. After the completion of the pilgrimage, each pilgrim would
again go the shrine in order to return the gohō.43 In particular, the gohō
“kongō dōji” was highly valued in Kumano, where there were a hundred
thousand kongō dōji, and there was an ascetic rite, the “Kongō Dōjihō,”
which should be practiced at Kumano.44 Kongō dōji were popular beyond
the Shugendō circle during the medieval period, as they were mainly
invoked in calamity-averting or exorcistic rituals.45 They appeared in many
forms and could multiply in number.
Gohō dōji also performed the role of mediators, communicating people’s
wishes to the deities. In obtaining oracles, shugenja would send their gohō
to possess the mediums, who would then function as mouthpieces or
oracles (kuchiyose). The mediums or yorimashi were selected from boys and
girls who were clever and without blemish, from about seven to fifteen
years old.46 The mediums would achieve identification with their gohō and
would use the power thus acquired to summon the requested spirits. As
for rites of exorcism, there were two types.47 In tsukimono otoshi (getting rid
of possessing spirits), the shugenja would drive out the possessing spirit.
In chōbuku (subduing the spirits), the shugenja would ritually identify with
Fudō Myōō, so that the shugenja could manipulate the gohō dōji of Fudō
Myōō, who would in turn drive out the evil possessing spirits. It was
clear that for the chōbuku more power was needed, since it was employed
when the regular tsukimono otoshi proved to be ineffective. In the chōboku,
it was the manipulation by the shugenja of Fudō Myōō’s retinue of gohō dōji
who could then control and defeat the evil deities or spirits. Fudō Myōō’s
retinue of servant spirits included Kongara and Seitaka, who were his two
main attendant gohō dōji, as well as his Eight Great Gohō Dōji, and Thirtysix Great Dōji.
The founder of Shugendō, En no Ozunu (also known as En no Ubasoku
and En no Gyōja) also had his gohō doji: two demon attendants whom he
had converted, known as Zenki (Front Demon) and Goki (Back Demon),
in addition to the Eight Great Dōji. In the Nihon ryōiki, it was said that in
his late forties En no Ozunu went to live in a cave, wore clothing made of
vines, drank the dewdrops on pine needles, bathed in pure spring water
to rinse away the filth of the world of desire, and learned the “Formula
of the Peacock” (Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī) to attain extraordinary power.
Thus, he could employ spirits (kijin, demonic spirits) and kami.48 The Shoku
Nihongi records miracle tales about En no Ozunu: “Popular tradition
had it that Ozunu had demonic powers at his beck and call; that he had
them draw his water and gather his firewood; and that if they failed to
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obey him, he would bind them with spells.”49 The founder of Hakusan
Shugendō, Taichō, was attended by two gohō dōji, Fuseri Gyōja and Shōjō
Gyōja. Shoshazan’s Shokū was also attended by two gohō dōji, Oto Gohō
and Waka Gohō. Shugenja used dōji as servants or attendants, especially in
exorcism and in the rite of the flying bowl (hihatsuhō).50 For example, En
no Ozunu was said to have put his mother in his begging bowl and sent it
flying to China.51 Myōren had the services of Tsurugi no Gohō (the swordgohō) and Kūhatsu Gohō (the empty begging bowl gohō).
Now let us look at a particular form of gohō for the yamabushi, the
tengu, and explore the relationship of tengu to gohō dōji in Buddhism.
GOHŌ DŌJI AND TENGU
Tengu is a type of long-nosed goblin. In the beginning there was the
crow tengu, characterized by the beak and wings of a Siberian black kite,
the original incarnate form of the creature; sometimes it was embodied as
a human with a bird’s bill.52 By the early seventeenth century, the image
of the tengu had generally become that of a ruddy-faced and long-nosed
itinerant monk, symbolizing vainglory. In the Tengu zōshi, tengu were said
to inhabit mountains and to descend to the world of man to cause mischief.
It also says that Buddhist monks who forget the true teachings of their faith
would turn into tengu.53
In the Buddhist context, the enemies of gohō dōji were the tengu, as illustrated in the story of Zegaibō.54 Zegaibō was a Chinese tengu who came
to Japan in order to challenge the senior priests of Enryakuji at Mt. Hiei,
only to suffer an ignominious defeat. The story is as follows.
In 966, during the reign of Emperor Murakami, Zengaibō, the
chief tengu of the Empire of China, came to Japan. Meeting
Nichiraibō, the Great Tengu of Mt. Atago, Zegaibō boasted
that he had subjugated all the high priests in China and that
the purpose of his visit to Japan was to measure his virtue with
monks in Japan, possibly to obstruct their enlightenment. Asked
to serve as a guide, the Japanese tengu led his Chinese colleague
up Mt. Hiei.
Zegaibō turned himself into an old monk while Nichiraibō
hid behind a tree in the distance, waiting until monks descended
the mountain. Yokei Risshi was riding in a palanquin on his way
to the palace and as Zegaibō approached, a burning iron wheel
sent him flying, with his wings burned. Nichiraibō laughed and
said that this monk believed in Fudō Myōō, and was reciting a
mantra of Fudō Myōō—the mantra of the fire realm—which burned
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demonic forces. Zegaibō, not discouraged by this thwarted effort,
got ready again.
Next came Jinzen(sen), a bishop of Imuro, who was also a
believer of Fudō Myōō. Jinzen recited another mantra of Fudō
Myōō and suddenly two red-haired boys appeared with raised
canes and started to chase Zegaibō, and the tengu was severely
beaten. Nichiraibō rebuked Zegaibō, and Monzebō, the tengu of
Mt. Hira, joined in the reprimand. Nichiraibō told Zegaibō that
the two boys were the servant spirits of Fudō Myōō: the gohō dōji
Kongara and Seitaka.
Without any sign of contrition, Zegaibō ran into the party of
Ryōgen (Jie Daishi), the august abbot of the Tendai sect, whose
young mysterious-looking attendants bound the tengu up and gave
him a good thrashing, led by Oto Gohō and Waka Gohō. The beaten
Zegaibō was carried home by Nichiraibō’s tengu, who ridiculed
him mercilessly.
Zegaibō asked for treatment in a hot spring to ease his pain,
but was told that since spas were sacred sites, he would be sure to
have another hard time of it there. Then they gave him a hot bath
on the banks of the Kamo River and nursed him. Seventeen days
later, when he finally recovered, Zegaibō thanked Nichiraibō for
his help. Realizing the futility of his extended stay in such a sacred
site, he expressed his wish to return to China. 55
Tengu were regarded in Shugendō as servants of kami, buddhas, eminent
monks, and yamabushi, like the servant spirit of goho dōji in Buddhism.56 In
Buddhist tales such as the Konjaku monogatarishū, however, these tengu were
depicted as turbulent mountain deities and were represented as enemies
of Buddhism. We see illustrations of this development in Tengu zōshi and
in the account of Zegaibō, which is different from the development in
popular cults of tengu. In popular religion, tengu were worshipped for
preventing fire and robbery. Tengu were mountain spirits, deities that
were pacified and converted by the yamabushi, and in esoteric Buddhism
they became identified with Kongō Dōji. Thus the cult of Kongō Dōji, the
protective spirit of Shugendō, became influenced by the cult of tengu.57
Ōmine had the Eight Great Kongō Dōji and the Eight Tengu as protective
spirits.58 Tengu also became deities of happiness/wealth (fukujin), owing to
the belief that they brought good harvests. For those who mine mountains,
tengu were regarded as gods of fortune. This brings to mind the fact that
other turbulent spirits who were creators of obstacles became protectors of
them and also became deities of wealth, such as Dōsojin.
The story of Zegaibō takes the perspective of the eminent monks of
Hieizan, emphasizing the miraculous powers of Fudō Myōō and gohō dōji
against the evil power of the tengu. In Tendai mikkyō, the tengu symbolized
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the Buddhist concept of evil, later turned into a path of rebirth, and
finally were regarded as enemies of Buddhism. Haruko N. Wakabayashi
stated that tengu are enemies of Buddhism, demonic creatures that defy
Buddhism, and constituted the antithesis to the ideal of the Buddhist
order.59 Thus, these tengu are very similar to “ma” (māra).
An illustration of how tengu could be saved from the evil path and also
be reborn as a monk with the help of gohō dōji is as follows.
A tengu from India was on his way to China, heard the water of
the ocean chanting a phrase of the “Daihannyakyō,” and decided
to prevent such chanting and looked for its source. Thus following
the sound of the chanting, he passed over China and arrived at
Japan. Tracing it to a river flowing from Mt. Hiei, he saw the Four
Heavenly Kings and other protectors of the dharma guarding the
water. He went toward a heavenly child (tendō), here a gohō dōji,
guarding the river and asked why the water was chanting the sutra.
The gohō dōji replied that it was owing to the fact that the source
of the flow starts from the privy of the learned monks of Hieizan.
The tengu was so taken by the account that he forgot his thought
of putting a stop to the chanting and instead upon promising to
become a monk at Hieizan disappeared. He kept his word and later
was reborn as the monk Myōgu.60
Here we see gohō dōji guarding a river that chanted sutra and originated
from a privy at Hieizan. And we also see that the tengu was so moved by
the gohō dōji’s account that he was converted to Buddhism and later reborn
as a monk.
In Buddhist tales, tengu were viewed as obstacles to the followers of
the dharma. They were even known to possess people, but were in turn
exorcised, like mononoke or evil spirits. Despite their trouble-making, we find
that they were rendered powerless when they encountered the protectors
of the dharma, and sometimes were even converted by the gohō zenshin.
In contrast to this Buddhist outlook, tengu continued to be worshipped as
gods of fortune and even gods of fertility in popular religion.
GOHŌ DŌJI AND YŌKAI
While the enemies of Tendai mikkyō were the tengu, we find that the
yōkai (ghosts, goblins) were the enemies in Shingon and Onmyōdō. Gohō
dōji would protect against yōkai attacks and could even convert such
yōkai. Following the Shingon doctrines of sokushin jōbutsu (attainment
of buddhahood in this very body) and of hijō jōbutsu (plants and other
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nonsentient beings’ ability to attain buddhahood), even yōkai could attain
buddhahood. In the Muromachi period, the representatives of the yōkai
were the utsuwa no yōkai (tool goblins), also called tsukumogami (ghosts of
old objects).
In Tsukumogami-ki (Record of the Ghosts of Old Objects), an otogizōshi of
the late fifteenth century, we see the following account.61 The text begins by
quoting the Onmyō zakki (Miscellaneous Records Concerning the Yin and Yang),
which states that utsuwa mono (tools) obtain spirit or tama after hundreds
of years.62 People used to welcome spring by throwing away old tools
in the street; this custom was known as susuharai. As a result new tools,
furniture, and clothing were brought into the house as the old ones were
tossed out or discarded into the streets. During the Kenpō era (964–968),
there was a rebellion of old tools. They were angry about being discarded
after having provided years of service. Thus, these tools transformed from
inanimate to animate beings, became ghosts of tools (utsuwa yōkai) on the
first day of spring (setsubun), and sought revenge on human beings by
killing them and their animals. These yōkai organized themselves and
made a procession along First Street in Kyōto. The Emperor summoned
a Shingon high priest to perform the great rite of the “Supreme Dhāraṇī”
(sonshō darani) for seven days and seven nights. On the evening of the
sixth day, a light was seen—the light of the Seven Heavenly Boys, who
were on their way to the north of Kyōto to fight these utsuwa yokai. These
Seven Heavenly Boys, gohō dōji of myōō such as Fudō Myōō, appeared
to the utsuwa yokai and said that if they would take refuge in the Three
Jewels and arouse the desire to attain enlightenment, their lives would
be spared; otherwise, they would be killed. The yokai were terrified and
as a result asked for instructions in Buddhist teachings, and converted
to Buddhism. One day, while they were being instructed about Shingon
teachings and their miraculous power, such as sokushin jōbutsu, several of
the utsuwa yokai were said to have “become buddha in their very bodies”
(sokushin jōbutsu).
Finally let us turn to household servant spirits in folk religion, the
zashiki warashi, or literally, children of the parlor or the drawing room.
CHILD SERVANT SPIRITS OF HOUSES:
THE ZASHIKI WARASHI
Zashiki warashi were child servant spirits who were attached to a
specific house. They were children aged from five or six, up to twelve or
thirteen years old. These children were usually boys, although there were
also some rare instances of girls. According to the folklorist Chiba Toku,
usually one could not see zashiki warashi, who were said to have red faces
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with long, flowing hair. However, one could trace their whereabouts by
following the footprints that they left behind.63 Having zashiki warashi
reside in one’s house would bring good fortune, while their departure
would bring misfortune.64 There were many names for zashiki warashi,
which varied according to locale: zashiki bokko, kurawarashi, kurabokko,
notabariko, ushitsukiko. These servant spirits represented a type of tsukimono
(possessing spirits), since they possessed the house in which they lived.
In medieval Japan, people attributed sudden increases or decreases in
wealth to possession by animals, animal deities, humans, or plant spirits.
It was believed that whereas possession by spirits that were lower than the
human existence (e.g., foxes or dogs) would bring malevolence, possession
by spirits higher than the human form (e.g., kami) would bring benefits.65
In Yanagita Kunio’s Tōno monogatari (The Legends of Tōno) there were
several accounts of zashiki warashi.
Among the older households there are quite a few houses that
have the spirit zashiki warashi (parlor child). At the oldest this kami
is twelve or thirteen years old. From time to time it reveals itself
to people. At Iide in Tsuchibuchi village, Kanjūrō Imabuchi’s
daughter, who goes to a girls’ high school, recently returned home
for vacation. One day in the dark corridor all of a sudden she
bumped into a zashiki warashi and was badly shocked. This zashiki
warashi was definitely a male child.
At Yamaguchi in the same village the mother of Mr. Sasaki was
sewing alone one day when she heard the sound of paper rustling
in the next room. That room was only for the master of the house,
but he was in Tokyo. Thinking it strange, she opened the wooden
door and looked in, but no one was there. After having been seated
a short time, again there was the sound of someone sniffling. She
concluded that it must be zashiki warashi. It had been rumored for
some time that zashiki warashi resided in this house. The house that
this kami lives in is said to become rich and prestigious.66
Zashiki warashi could also be a girl child as we see in the following
account.
It has been traditionally said that there are two girl kami in the house
of Magozaemon Yamaguchi, also an old house in Yamaguchi. One
year a certain man from the village was on his way back from town
and near Tomeba bridge when he met two lovely girls whom he had
never seen before. They were walking pensively towards him.
“Where did you come from?” he asked.
“We have come from Magozaemon’s in Yamaguchi,” they
replied.
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“Where are you headed now?” he inquired.
“To a certain house in another village,” was the reply.
That certain household in a somewhat distant village
is now wealthy and the people live well. Hearing this the
man conjectured that Magozaemon was headed for ruin,
and it was not too long after that twenty or so people in the
family died in one day from mushroom poisoning. Only one
seven-year-old girl did not die. She merely grew old without
having any children, and recently died of an illness.67
Chiba identified the zashiki warashi with Okunai-sama, the household deity
that looked after the fate of the family. He also connected zashiki warashi
with the small child or kozō from the Dragon Palace, and to Hanatare Kozō
(translated by Komatsu Kazuhiko as “Snotty-nosed Brat”), whose stay in
one’s house was tied to the fortune of the house.68 The story of Hanatare
Kozō is as follows.
This child was given to an old man in Higo who sold firewood. He
had prayed to the Dragon God and thrown his unsold firewood
into the water. A beautiful woman appeared and gave him a child
with the admonition that since this child was a gift from the Dragon
God, the child would grant any wish of the old man, but in return,
he must offer the child a shrimp a day. The old man put the child
beside his altar and went into town to buy a shrimp to offer to the
child every day. The child produced everything the old man asked
for, and in no time, he became very rich. One day, however, he got
tired of going into town to buy a shrimp for the hanatare kozō so
he told the child to go back to the Dragon Palace. Upon the child’s
departure, his house and wealth vanished.69
The child who was worshipped every day brought fortune, and in this
respect is a child of good fortune. In contrast, the child who was neglected
or expelled brought misfortune, and in this respect is a disaster-causing
child. Furthermore, this child is strange (irui igyō)—in most versions of the
tale of the Dragon Palace Child he is depicted as being physically ugly, or
mentally abnormal. This reminds us of other strange children (idō), such
as the onigo, or demon child. Such onigo include Benkei, who was black in
color, and Kintoki, who was red in color, both of whom could also bring
both benefit and harm to the human community. Such strange children were
both desired and feared at the same time. Their turbulent and unpredictable nature needed to be “well-managed” by their master. Only in this way
could their oscillation between bringing wealth and bringing calamity be
brought under control, and benefit those around them.
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CONCLUDING REMARKS
The gohō dōji was a double symbol combining both the symbol of the
guardian deity and the symbol of the child. Guardian deities were originally
demonic spirits and local deities opposed to Buddhism. Their turbulent or
fierce propensities were not eliminated, but rather were kept intact, and
placed under the management of buddhas and bodhisattvas in the service
of Buddhism. These deities were violent and merciless in punishing the
transgressors of the dharma, but benevolent and compassionate in rewarding the followers of the dharma. Like other guardians of the dharma, gohō
dōji were also characterized by the same dual propensities of malevolence
and benevolence in protecting the followers of Buddhism. But while their
duty to protect the dharma was similar to that of other guardians, since
they were also children, they had to be supervised or directed by adult
principals, in this case master deities or religious specialists. Furthermore,
because they were children they could perform more mundane tasks or odd
jobs. Gohō dōji not only followed the orders of their masters and delivered
their messages, but also attended to their every need, no matter how menial
or trivial. However, since they were children, their actions were not always
predictable, as they might at times be overzealous in carrying out their
orders. The changeability supposedly characteristic of children—oscillating between benevolence and malevolence, peacefulness and turbulence,
compassion and cruelty, freedom and dependency—was put to use by
the adult principals. As double-edged swords, able to bring blessings or
calamities at the command of their masters, gohō dōji became very popular
and effective servants. In Buddhist circles and beyond, accounts of these
child servant spirits soared in the medieval Japanese imaginaire, as these
children took on different names or forms in the ever-expanding discourse
about them.
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NOTES
1. I am very grateful to Iyanaga Nobumi for his valuable comments,
corrections, and encouragement. As always, I am thankful for Paul
Harrison’s criticism and support. An earlier version of this paper was
presented at a workshop which I held on “Images and Concepts of
Childhood” at Stanford Humanities Center and Stanford Center for
Buddhist Studies, Stanford University, December 2000.
2. I have not been able to find an equivalent for the symbol of gohō dōji in
medieval Chinese discourse. In medieval Chinese hagiography, there are
references to monks being served or attended by spirits or ghosts, but no
mention of child servant deities in particular. In the Song gaoseng zhuan
deities (shen) and spirits appear as evidence of the resonance (ganying)
eminent monks inspire. On this issue, see John Kieschnick, The Eminent
Monk: Buddhist Ideals in Medieval Chinese Hagiography (Honolulu, University
of Hawaii Press, 1997). For instance, we find spirits who assist monks in
sweeping roads, lighting lamps, replenishing incense, drawing water,
bringing fruit and wood, causing floodwaters to recede, and in punishing
those who abuse monks. See for example, Song gaoseng zhuan, T. 2061,
vol. 50, 25.17 (870b23–24) and 22.2 (850a9–11). The one specific instance
I came across of such a guardian child spirit is the heavenly youth who
attended Daoxuan, identified as Nuocha or Nacha, the son of Vaiśravana
(Bishamonten). See Song gaoseng zhuan, T. 2061, 14.1 (791a9–13). Daoxuan is
also served by Weituo, a youthful deity who can be viewed as another gohō
dōji type, and Weituo’s servants. See Daoxuan lüshi ganlong lu, T. 2107, vol.
52 (435c1–6). There are, of course, acolytes who attend bodhisattvas, for
example Guanyin’s two acolytes, Shan Tongzi (Virgin Lad [Keeping Track]
of Good Deeds) and E Tongzi (Virgin Lad [Keeping Track] of Evil Deeds).
These two Virgin Lads are the subject of an extensive study by Michel
Soymié, “Notes d’iconographie chinoise: les acolytes de Ti-tsang (I),” Arts
asiatiques 14 (1966): pp. 141–170. However, these acolytes do not become a
unique symbol like gohō dōji in medieval Japanese discourse.
3. Carmen Blacker and Christine Guth have both written general surveys
on the subject of divine boys, in the context of Japanese Buddhism and
Japanese art respectively. See Carmen Blacker, “The Divine Boy in Japanese
Buddhism,” Asian Folklore Studies 22 (1963): pp. 77–88 (also in Carmen
Blacker, Collected Writings of Carmen Blacker [Tokyo, Tokyo Library Japan,
2000], pp. 101–109) and Christine Guth, “Divine Boy in Japanese Art,”
Monumenta Nipponica 42, no. 1 (1987): pp. 1–23. Whereas Blacker defines
the “divine boy” in terms of gohō dōji in Buddhism specifically, Guth
represents the “divine boy” as a religious archetype, such as the infant
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Buddha or Shitta Taishi, the infant Prince Shōtoku or Nambutsu Taishi,
the boy Kōbō Daishi or Chigo Daishi, the boy Monju or Chigo Monju and
the adolescent Monju or Nawa Monju, and the child Kannon or Chigo
Kannon. Yanagita Kunio has also written a short article on the subject.
He stresses the point that these heavenly children (tendō) who protect
the buddhadharma are also demonic spirits and are used as mediums
in exorcism. Yanagita Kunio, “Gohō dōji,” Kyōdo kenkyū 2, no. 11 (1915):
pp. 641–654. More recently Koyama Satoko, a Ph.D. candidate working on
the gohō dōji, has published a number of articles on her research. See for
example, Koyama, “Chūsei zenki no Shōren’in monzeki ni okeru gohō dōji
shinkō no juyō,” Nihon shūkyō bungakushi kenkyū 4, no. 1 (2000): pp. 38–62;
Koyama, “Dainihonkoku hokekyōgenki ni miru gohō dōji,” Setsuwa bungaku
kenkyū 35 (July 2000): pp. 105–-117; Koyama, “Gohō dōji no zuzōteki sekai,”
Setsuwa 10 (February 2000): pp. 41–68; Koyama, “Chūsei zenki ni okeru dōji
shinkō no ryūsei to mappō shisō,” Bukkyō shigaku kenkyū 43, no. 1 (2000):
pp. 45–69. She examines the possible origins and the development of the
cult of gohō dōji. Some of her main points are as follows. The popularity of
dōji in the early medieval period can been seen as a result of the belief in
the final age of the dharma (mappō), in which buddhas and bodhisattvas
will manifest in the most appropriate form to save sentient beings, i.e., in
the form of children. Furthermore, the cult of dōji originated from the Lotus
Sutra, and as a result the earliest form of dōji are the tendō, who protect
those who recite the Lotus Sutra. These tendō later came to be identified
with the dōji of Fudō Myōō, in particular, Kongara and Seitaka, in addition
to the kongō dōji who vowed to protect sentient beings during mappō as
gohō. Thus by the latter part of the medieval period, the cult of gohō dōji
developed as the amalgamation of the cults of tendō and gohō, to encompass
the servant spirits of esoteric deities such as Fudō Myōō and Benzaiten, and
in this way the gohō dōji’s protection extended well beyond the reciters of the
Lotus Sutra to the followers of the dharma. The actual term gohō dōji came to
be used during the latter part of the Muromachi period even though in the
mid-Heian period there were expressions such as gohō or tendō. On the art
history front, there have recently been two special exhibitions on children
in Japanese art at the Hikone Castle Museum in 2000 and at the Tokyo
National Museum in 2001. The respective catalogues from the exhibitions
are Bijutsu no naka no dōji, compiled by Hikonejō hakubutsukan, 2000, and
Bijutsu no naka no kodomotachi, compiled by Tokyo Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan,
2001. Furthermore there is a journal issue devoted to the forms of children
in the medieval period. See Tsuda Tetsuei, ed., “Chūsei no dōji-gyō,” Nihon
no bijutsu 2003, no. 442 (March). I am indebted to Iyanaga Nobumi for this
reference.
4. The vidyā rāja Acala (Fudō Myōō) is also a youth, at times appearing
as a child, and is a messenger. See, for example, Asabashō, T. zuzōbu 9,
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324b23–25. In Daoism, we see that messenger deities often took the form
of children, e.g., the Azure Lad and the Jade Maiden. For a study on the
Azure Lad, see Paul Kroll, “In the Halls of the Azure Lad,” Journal of the
American Oriental Society 105, no. 1 (January–March 1985): pp. 75–94. We
can also compare such child deities with other Western messenger deities,
such as the Greek Hermes, who is often represented as a young deity and
is a god of communication, and Eros, another young deity who is a god
of communication between men and women. I am indebted to Iyanaga
Nobumi for bringing this comparison to my attention and also for the
following reference. See Laurence Kahn, Hermes passe, ou, Les ambiguites de
la communication [collection Textes a l’appui] (Paris: F. Maspero, 1978).
5. For discussion of the notion of muen, see Amino Yoshihiko, Muen, kugai,
raku: Nihon chūsei no jiyū to heiwa, Heibonsha sensho 58 (Tokyo: Heibonsha,
1978) and Amino Yoshihiko and Abe Kinya, [Taidan] Chūsei no saihakken:
ichi, zōyo, enkai (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1994).
6. See Iijima Yoshiharu, “Folk Culture and the Liminality of Children,”
Current Anthropology 28, no. 4 (1987): pp. 41–47. This also brings to mind
two Indian threshold deities or guardians of the door: Skanda, who
appears as a handsome young man (Kumāra) or sometimes even as a boy
(dōji), and Gaṇeśa, a god of obstacles who is an ugly dwarf with a potbelly and an elephant head with a single tusk. For a discussion of these
guardian deities, see R.A. Stein, “The Guardian of the Gate: An Example of
Buddhist Mythology, From Indian to Japan,” in Asian Mythologies, ed. Yves
Bonnefoy (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1993), pp.
112–136. On the birth stories of Gaṇeśa and Skanda, see Iyanaga Nobumi,
Kannon hen’yōtan, Bukkyō shinwagaku II (Kyoto: Hōzōkan, 2002), pp. 11–
31. Skanda later becomes Weituo in China and his form is very similar
to that of gohō dōji. Weituo is known to have served the monk Daoxuan,
bringing him food from the heavenly kitchen every day (Iyanaga, Kannon
hen’yōtan, pp. 117–121). He is also known to be able to send a begging bowl
flying. For more details on this issue, see note 35. Weituo not only becomes
the guardian of the monastery gate in China from the seventh century
onwards, but later also becomes the guardian of the kitchen in Chan and
Zen monasteries to ensure plentiful food supply for the sangha. Mañjuśrī,
another young man type, is also known as the keeper of the refectory.
Stein, “The Guardian of the Gate,” pp. 125–127.
7. Iijima, “Folk Culture and Liminality of Children,” p. 42, and Nakano
Chizuru, “Gohō dōji to dōdōji,” Bukkyō shigaku kenkyū 27, no. 1 (1984):
pp. 23–62.
8. Tanaka Takako, “Torai suru kami to dochaku suru kami,” in Nihon no
kami, vol. 1: kami no shigen, ed. Yamaori Tetsuo (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1995),
pp. 174–208.
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9. Tanaka, “Torai suru kami to dochaku suru kami,” p. 206.
10. For studies of the cult of arhats see Michibata Ryōshū, Rakan shinkōshi
(Tokyo: Daitō shuppansha, 1983) and Sylvain Lévi and Edouard Chavannes,
“Les seize Arhat protecteurs de la Loi,” Journal asiatique 8 (1916): pp. 5–48,
189–304.
11. I have discussed this issue elsewhere. See Irene H. Lin, “From Thunder
Child to Dharma-protector: Dōjō hōshi and the Buddhist Appropriation
of Japanese Local Deities,” in Buddhas and Kami in Japan: Honji Suijaku as
a Combinatory Paradigm, eds. Teeuwen and Rambelli (London and New
York: Routledge Curzon, 2003), pp. 54–76.
12. On honji suijaku, see Teeuwen and Rambelli, Buddhas and Kami in Japan.
13. I have examined this issue elsewhere. See Lin, “The Ideology of
Imagination: The Tale of Shuten Dōji as a Kenmon Discourse,” in Buddhist
Priests, Kings, and Marginals: Studies on Medieval Japanese Buddhism, eds.
Bernard Faure and François Lachaud, Cahiers d’Extrême Asie 13 (2002–
2003): pp. 379–410.
14. T. 76, 2410, 782–784. For an introduction to the Keiranshūyōshū, see
Allan Grapard, “Keiranshūyōshū: A Different Perspective on Mt. Hiei in the
Medieval Period,” in Re-Visioning “Kamakura” Buddhism, ed. Richard K.
Payne (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998), pp. 55–69.
15. T. 76, 2410, 783a and b. All translations are my own unless otherwise
noted. Benzaiten is given as having fifteen or sixteen sons who are
incarnations of various Buddhist deities symbolizing various crafts of
which she is a patron. See Louis Frédéric, Buddhism: Flammarion Iconographic
Guides (New York: Flammarion, 1995). Sensha Dōji is an incarnation of
Yakujō Bosatsu. Seitaka Dōji, who serves Fudō Myōō, is often paired with
Kongara as the two acolytes most often represented with him. He can have
two, eight, thirty-six, or forty-eight child acolytes.
16. T. 76, 2140, 783c. Iyanaga Nobumi kindly edited my translation of
this story and pointed to the fact that this single-pronged vajra had been
transmitted to the Monk Sōo from the monarchal rector (sōjō) Ryōkai of
Iimuro and is still in Mt. Hiei.
17. Konjaku monogatarishū, fasc. 13, no. 23. Nihon koten bungaku taikei 24, ed.
Takagi Ichinosuke et al. (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1957–1968), pp. 239–240.
18. Kokonchomonjū, fasc. 17, no. 600, Nihon koten bungaku taikei 84, pp. 461–462.
19. Helen Craig McCullough, trans., The Tale of Heike (Palo Alto, CA:
Stanford University Press, 1988), pp. 178–179.
20. In the Asabashō, the chapter on Fudō Myōō contains a section describing
the two attendants of the deity, Kongara Dōji and Seitaka Dōji. Asabashō, T.
zuzōbu 9, 325a19–20. The text states that Kongara Dōji is very careful and
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respectable, whereas Seitaka is hard to deal with and has a malevolent
character.
21. Hanawa Hokiichi, compiler, Gunsho Ruiju (Tokyo: Nagai Shoseki, 1928–
1937), book 487.
22. Yoshiko Dykstra, trans., Miraculous Tales of the Lotus Sutra from Ancient
Japan: The Dainihonkoku hokekyōkenki of Priest Chingen (Honolulu: University
of Hawaii Press, 1983), pp. 114–115. Usually the text is read Dainihonkoku
hokekyōgenki, not hokekyōkenki as Dykstra reads it. Thus in the paper I refer
to the text in the conventional way.
23. Yoshiko Dykstra, Miraculous Tales of the Lotus Sutra from Ancient Japan,
p. 115.
24. Kokonchomonjū, fasc. 2, no. 46, Nihon koten bungaku Taikei 84, pp. 81–
83. Another magical contest involving a gohō is found in Ōkagami fasc. 3,
Nihon koten bungaku taikei 21, pp. 148–149; Helen Craig McCullough, trans.,
Ōkagami: The Great Mirror Fujiwara Michinaga (996–1027) and His Times, A
Study and Translation (Princeton and Tokyo: Princeton University Press and
University of Tokyo Press, 1988), p. 150.
25. D. E. Mills, trans., A Collection of Tales from Uji: A Study and Translation of
Uji Shūi Monogatari (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970).
26. Mills, A Collection of Tales from Uji, pp. 193–194.
27. Konjaku monogatarishū fasc. 12, no. 34, Nihon koten bungaku taikei 24,
pp. 185–186.
28. For a discussion of the use of child-mediums in possession and
exorcism, see Michel Strickmann, Chinese Magical Medicine (Palo Alto:
Stanford University Press, 2002), pp. 194–227.
29. For a study of such exorcistic rituals, see Komatsu Kazuhiko, Hyōrei
shinkoron (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1994).
30. Mills, A Collection of Tales from Uji, p. 146.
31. Ibid., pp. 425–426.
32. Ibid., p. 266.
33. There is a variation of this story in the Soga monogatari. See Thomas
J. Cogan, trans., The Tale of the Soga Brothers (Tokyo: University of Tokyo
Press, 1987), pp. 189–193.
34. Nihon emaki taisei 4: Shigisan engi (Tokyo: Chūōkoronsha, 1977).
35. Scroll one tells of how Myōren sends his bowl flying to the foot of the
mountain, where there lived a rich landlord, for the purpose of obtaining
food. One day, people in the squire’s house were taking rice out of the
granary when Myōren’s bowl came flying into a corner of the granary.
Later, having forgotten that the bowl was still inside the storehouse, the
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workers closed the door. Suddenly the granary began to shake and rose
into the air. The door opened, the bowl came out of the granary, and the
bowl carried the building in flight to Shigisan. The squire later apologized
for his negligence and begged Myōren to return the rice. Myōren said that
the granary had to stay there, but the rice would be sent back. A noteworthy
factor of this account is that one of the supernormal powers that could be
acquired through meditation was the ability to fly (ṛddhi-s, which belong
to higher knowledges or abhijñā-s). Here, Myōren’s ability to send his
bowl flying was indicative of his advanced state of practice that gave him
the power of flight, which extended to his begging bowl. This brings to
mind a similar account, Jietaisi of the flying bowl, which gets filled with
jewels owning to the miraculous power of Skanda or Weituo. See Stein,
“The Guardian of the Gate,” p. 127 and Iyanaga, Kannon hen’youtan, pp.
84–86. Another point worthy of mention here is that Myōren’s worship
of Bishamonten may have also given him and objects associated with him
powers of flight. In the Bishamontennōkyō, it states that when a practitioner
recites the sutra and makes offerings to Bishamon, the deity will manifest
in the form of a dōji or a layperson, according to the wish of the practitioner.
See T. 21, 1244: 215–216, 216a. Furthermore, the sutra continues by saying
that “those who recite the sutra will obtain the ability to fly about freely.”
Art historians Miya Tsugio and Sawa Takaaki have suggested that the
sword-gohō is the fifth servant spirit of Bishamonten, which is evident from
the similarity of images of the dōji with that of this fifth servant spirit (an
adult wearing a similar sword suit). Miya Tsugio, “Shigisan engi kyojitsu
zakkō,” in Bukkyō setsuwa-e no kenkyū, ed. Kameda Tsutomu (Tokyo: Tokyo
bijitsu, 1979), pp. 129–146. For the image, see Taishō zuzōbu 7, 551; Sawa
Takaaki, “Shigisan engi to Toba sōjō Kakuyu-kō,” in Nihon emaki taisei 4:
Shigisan engi (Tokyo: Chūōkoronsha, 1977).
36. There is a version of this story in the Uji shūi monogatari, which reveals
more about the sword-gohō and his relation to Bishamonten. Mills, A
Collection of Tales from Uji, pp. 286–291.
37. For a study of shikigami, see Komatsu, Hyōrei shinkōron, pp. 145–228.
Izanagiryū, a folk religion with Onmyōdō influence, also used servant
spirits known as shiki ōji. These servant spirits were summoned by prayers,
and they would get rid of the curse causing the illness of the person who
was wronged. For a study of shiki ōji, see Saitō Hideki, Izanagiryū: shiki ōji
(Tokyo: Shinkigensha, 2000).
38. Mills., A Collection of Tales from Uji, pp. 339–340.
39. Ibid., pp. 175–176.
40. For a detailed study of these rituals, see Miyake Hitoshi, Shugendō
girei no kenkyū (Tokyo: Shunjūsha, 1985). For a summary of such rites, see
Miyake Hitoshi, “Religious Rituals in Shugendo: A Summary,” Japanese
Journal of Religious Studies 16, nos. 2–3 (1989): pp. 101–116.
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178
41. Miyake Hitoshi, “Kumano Gongen: The Idea of Deity in Shugendō,”
in Shugendō: Essays on the Structure of Japanese Folk Religion (Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan, 2001), pp. 36–59.
42. Ibid., p. 39.
43. Ibid., p. 48
44. Ibid., p. 49.
45. For example, women were believed to be especially susceptible to
possession by evil spirits during the time of childbirth. Thus, when the
daughter of Taira no Kiyomori, the Empress Kenreimon’in, was giving
birth, a number of eminent monks were summoned to perform esoteric
rituals to ensure safe delivery, and the Kongō Dōji ritual was one of these
rites. Helen Craig McCullough, trans., The Taiheiki: A Chronicle of Medieval
Japan (New York: Columbia University Press, 1959), p. 12 and McCullough,
The Tale of Heikei, pp. 100–101.
46. Miyake, Shugendō girei no kenkyū, p. 349.
47. Ibid., pp. 445–474.
48. Kyoko M. Nakamura, trans., Miraculous Stories from the Japanese Buddhist
Tradition: The Nihon ryōiki of the Monk Kyōkai (Surrey: Curzon Press, 1997),
pp. 140–142.
49. Gorai Shigeru, “Shugendo Lore,”Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 16,
nos. 2–3 (1989): pp. 117–142.
50. For the rite of the flying bowl, Nyōi hōju tenrin himitsu genshin jōbutsu
konrinjuōkyō, see T. 19, 961: 330–324, 330c–331a and Iyanaga, Kannon
hen’youtan, pp. 83–99.
51. Shugendō no hon: kami to butsu ga yūgō yamagai no mandara, Collection
Bukkusu Esoterika 8 (Tokyo: Gakushū kenkyūsha, 1993), pp. 34–40.
52. For a detailed study of the tengu, refer to the pioneering work of M.W. de
Visser, “The Tengu,” Transactions Asiatique Journal 36, no. 2 (1908): pp. 1–159.
53. Tengu zōshi, in vol. 27 of Shinshū Nihon Emakimono Zenshū, ed. Umezu
Jirō (Tokyo: Kadokawa shoten, 1978).
54. Ibid.
55. Zegaibō-e in vol. 27 of Shinshū Nihon Emakimono Zenshū, ed. Umezu
Jirō (Tokyo: Kadokawa shoten, 1978). Compare this story to the following
tale, which I have also translated. According to Komatsu Kazuhiko, the
former story is based on the latter account. Komatsu Kazuhiko, Nihon
Yōkai ibunroku (Tokyo: Shogakkan, 1995), p. 90.
There was a powerful tengu who lived in China, named Chira Eiju.
He came to Japan and upon meeting Japanese tengu said that in
his country, even though there were virtuous monks, the tengu
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were free in their actions. Hearing that there were also practicing
monks in Japan, he wanted to compare the monks of the two
countries and challenge the Japanese monks. Together they went
to Hieizan’s Ishi sotoba at Ōtake, and the Japanese tengu said that
since his face was already known, he would hide, and advised
the tengu from China to transform himself into an old monk and
wait for passersby. Yokei then approached, sitting in a palanquin
on his way to the capital. The Japanese tengu, who was anxious
to see what tricks the Chinese tengu would play, instead saw the
priest’s procession pass by. Surprised at the turnout, he found
Eiju hiding in a valley. Eiju explained that when he went near,
he did not see the priest, but saw flames on top of the palanquin.
Afraid to be burned, he hid himself in the valley. His next attempt
was on Priest Jinzen. However, an attendant of the priest, a child
with short hair (gohō dōji) swinging a stick, preceded the monk,
saw Eiju, and chased him away. Then a group of people was seen
descending the mountain. It was the Priest Jie surrounded by a
group of boys, about twenty or thirty of them, holding whips.
One of them said, “There is something suspicious nearby,” and
another said, “This is the place where the old monk hides,” and
others said, “Let’s bind him … don’t let him escape.” About ten of
them approached and pulled him out, and started to whip him,
asking his identity. The old monk replied that he was a tengu from
China and recounted the whole story: how when Yokei (Jikaku
daishi) came by, he chanted the mantra of Fudō Myōō, and then
a big blaze appeared on top of his palanquin, thus he had to run
away to escape the flame. Then when Jinzen came and read the
mantra of Fudō Myōō, Seitaka Dōji came and, holding an iron
cane, chased him away. Hearing this, the group of boys then
each took a turn and trampled on him. Thus beaten, the Japanese
tengu took Eiju to a hot spring before sending him back to China
(Konjaku monogatari-shū 4, pp. 145–49).
56. Gorai, “Tengu to minkan shinkō,” in Tengu zōshi, vol. 27 of Shinshū
Nihon Emakimono Zenshū, ed. Umezu Jirō (Tokyo: Kadokawa shoten, 1978),
pp. 35–38.
57. Ibid., p. 44.
58. Ibid., pp. 44–45. Tengu are turbulent spirits: onryō or kijin on one side
and protective deities on the other side.
59. Haruko Nishioka Wakabayashi, “Tengu: Images of the Buddhist
Concepts of Evil in Medieval Japan” (Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton
University, 1995).
60. Konjaku monogatari-shū, vol. 4, in Iwanami koten bungaku taikei, vol.
25 (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1962), pp. 144–145. Iyanaga brings to my
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attention that this tale represents a type of religious nationalism: a tengu
from India comes to Japan via China, following the chanting of a phrase of
the Daihannyakyō, traced to Mt. Hiei. Thus, the source of the sutra chanting
originates in Japan and reaches India via China, representing a “reverse
flow” of the dharma. Nichiren had a similar idea that in the age of mappō,
the dharma flows from the East to the West. This brings to mind other
kinds of religious nationalism, for instance the reverse honji-suijaku of later
Shinto and the ideas of Hirata Atsutane in the Edo period.
61. Tsukumogami-ki, in Yokoyama Shigeru and Matsumoto Takanobu,
eds., Muromachi jidai monogatari taisei 9 (Tokyo: Kadokawa shoten, 1981).
Komatsu has studied this text; see Nihon Yōkai ibunroku, pp. 195–202.
62. This text is cited in Tsukumogami-ki, 417–425. Fabio Rambelli discussed
this text at length in “Objects, Rituals, Tradition: A Genealogy of the
Memorial Services (kuyō) for Objects in Japan,” work in progress, pp. 24–
29. Komatsu Kazuhiko also discussed this story in Hyōrei shinkōron, pp.
336–338 and Nihon Yōkai ibunroku, pp. 188–202. Also see accounts of such
parade of yōkai, or the Hyakki yagyō, e.g., Tanaka Takako, Hyakki yagyō no
mieru toshi (Tokyo: Shinyōsha, 1994) and Tanaka Takako, Hanada Kiyoteru,
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko, and Komatsu Kazuhiko, Zusetsu Hyakki yagyō emaki
o yomu (Tokyo: Kawade shobō, 1999).
63. Chiba Toku, “Zashiki warashi,” in Minzokugaku kenkyū 3 (1952): pp. 61–84.
64. We also see mention of zashiki warashi in Yanagita Kunio’s “Momotarō
no tanjō,” 1933 and Orikuchi Shinobu’s Tabi to densetsu 7: 1 and Minkan
densetsu 12: pp. 3, 6.
65. Komatsu, Hyōrei shinkōron, pp. 26–27.
66. Kunio Yanagita, The Legends of Tōno, trans. Ronald A. Morse (Tokyo:
The Japan Foundation, 1975), p. 22.
67. Ibid., pp. 22–23.
68. Chiba, “Zashiki warashi,” pp. 8–9. Similarly, there are dog spirits that
possess houses, inugami tsuki. If these inugami are satisfied, the house will
be wealthy. If they are neglected, calamity will befall the house.
69. Komatsu has studied this Dragon Palace Child. Komatsu Kazuhiko,
“The Dragon Palace Child: An Anthropological and Sociohistorical
Approach,” Current Anthropology 28, no. 4 (August–October 1987): pp. 31–
39. The story can be found in Seki Keigo, Mukashibanashi no rekishi (Tokyo:
Shibundō, 1966), pp. 8–22. We can view the Dragon Palace Child as a type
of wish-fulfilling child (nyōi-dōji), a transformation of the wish-fulfilling
jewel (nyoi hōju) of the Dragon Palace. We recall that the possessor of the
nyoi hōju is granted any wish and thus becomes a great king, as in the case
of Daishokkan Kamatari. On this subject, see Abe Yasurō, “Daishokkan no
seritsu,” Kōwakamai kyoku kenkyū 4 (Tokyo: Miyai shoten, 1986), pp. 80–195.